Taylor, Joseph c1888 – 1913

TAYLOR

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 8/4/2020 at 07:58:58

Source: Cresco Plain Dealer July 25, 1913, P-4, C-4

Tama, Ia., July 22.—Joseph Taylor, twenty-five years old, ostensibly a restaurant keeper here but said to have been an operative for an Eastern detective agency assigned on an important case, was shot and almost instantly killed in the Northwestern railroad yards. The identity of the murderer and the motive of the crime are mysteries.
Railroad men who were at the coal chute heard five shots fired. They ran in the direction from which the reports came. They found Taylor dead. One bullet had penetrated his heart.
Taylor was supposed to have carried a large sum of money. When his clothes were searched only a small amount in change was found. A valuable watch and a diamond pin he had were not stolen.
Bloodhounds were tried but were unable to follow the trail of the murderer.
Not much is known here concerning Taylor. The report that he was a detective and posed as a restaurant owner for cover, could not be verified by the police.